Zoe Smith

Fitzgerald critiques society and their belief in the American Dream through his use of the literary device  setting in The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald.

Riches, rights, success and happiness all promises with a little hard work. The American dream. Take note of the last word, dream. In his novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald harshly reveals the true substantiality behind this so-called fantasy that occupies the minds of 1920s American society and continues to this day. Society is critiqued by Fitzgerald for the unrealistic belief held in the American dream through his use of settings. East Egg, West Egg and the Valley of ashes, all come across as vastly contrasting, however, throughout the novel, the underlying similarities of the decaying morals are brought to the surface. In a time of social and political change, crime thrived off the ever-wanting souls of the American cities, quickly spreading to an inevitable disease of corruption and materialism.

Fitzgerald exposes this so-called ‘American Dream’ from the false reality it portrays. Anyone of any social status, wealth, upbringing and race has the potential and means to achieve success if they work hard enough, or so the American dream states. Through the use of setting in West Egg, the American dream is accurately represented as unrealistically unattainable without corruption of some sort. Early on in the novel, West Egg is announced by Nick as “…the well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. “. The use of this quote explains to us as an audience that although both West Egg and East Egg are full of wealthy people, the West Eggers are ‘less fashionable’ for they have earned their wealth through corrupted means such as bootlegging and are seen as lower status people due to not being born into money. Tom Buchanan, an East egger justly accuses, “Everyone in West Egg is a bootlegger.”. This solidifies the perceived fact that all these new money people, who have attained the American Dream through ‘hard work’ as suggested, are actually corrupt and crime must have been involved. Coming from Tom this comment also gives us an insight on the view East Eggers have on the people of West Egg and even though they have as much money as them, they are still considered lower class because they were not born with it. Showing that it is impossible to be accepted as a part of this American Dream without factors people have no control over, this goes against the idea that ‘anyone’ can achieve the dream. This explores the idea that it is not really possible for people of lower social status to successfully gain large amounts of money through honest work, which completely contradicts what the American Dream portrays. Fitzgerald has chosen to use West Egg as a harsh reality check on the true nature of the American Dream.

The occupants of East Egg live perfect lives, with perfect families in perfect houses and perfectly huge amounts of money. Well, Fitzgerald perfectly corrects this distorted idea. East Egg is believed to full of people living the American dream. Even Nick’s view sees them as perfect as he muses, “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water,”. His first impression is exactly what you would expect, admirable and envious. The ‘palaces’ he speaks of are merely the huge mansions the upper-class resort in, situating themselves in an exclusive society only reachable through the ‘American Dream’. The dream is criticised by Fitzgerald here as to how can they be living a life they have ‘Attained through hard-work’ if they were born into this society and have not had to work a day in their lives? Daisy and Tom Buchanan, and the rest of the East Egg society, supposedly live in the epitome of the American Dream, however, their lives are hugely flawed and are inaccurately portrayed by the illusion they convey. The people of East Egg care only for reputation, wealth and the upper-class society they thrive off. The corruption and dishonesty is shown through Tom’s multiple affairs with Myrtle Wilson and other women, including his one on a trip with Daisy “The girl who was with him got into the papers, too, because her arm was broken – she was one of the chambermaids in the Santa Barbara Hotel.”. Daisy’s affair with Gatsby and her cold killing of Myrtle Wilson, which ended in her driving on and letting Gatsby take the fall, all add to the harsh reality of the fabricated life they live.  The residents of East Egg and their actions are used by Fitzgerald to criticise the American dream and the pretence it holds because all though they are believed to be classy, honourable and the best of the best, it is clear that they are no better than the rest. The unrealistic hope of living a life like this is displayed accurately and allows us as readers to understand that we would be pining for a lie of a life. I think Fitzgerald uses the social divide between East and West Egg to criticise the idea of the American dream, that anyone can be ‘equal’, as both have extravagant amounts of money yet they are on very different levels.

The Valley of Ashes is powerfully used by Fitzgerald to criticise everything the American dream stands for. In the novel the Valley of Ashes is described as  “– a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of ash-grey men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.”. The description is dark, raw and instantly puts a bleak and dying image of the valley of ashes in our minds. The reference to ashes refers to burnt wood remains and symbolically- the people’s hope. The theme of wood is that, what society makes important is valuable until it is used up and left as waste.  People living in this place are on the “…other side of the tracks…” literally, and metaphorically as where they live is desolate, and borderline between the crazy rich and big dreamers of New York City. The ‘ash-grey men’ , “…already crumbling through the powdery air..” will work hard all their lives, yet, never actually achieve anything classed the same as the American dream. Wildly opposing the idea that they will achieve greatness through hard work, Fitzgerald uses this setting to critique society’s hopeful perception of the dream that these lower classes will make it out during such corrupt times and surrounded by these ‘grotesque’ morals held by the rest of the society. Fitzgerald’s judgment on society’s morals is clearly shown through this setting, the valley. That while the rich spoil their own desires, the hidden valley of the poor suffers from their indulgences. As an author, he is trying to make us realise the false reality this American dream portrays. Comparing lives such as those in the valley to those in East Egg is unrealistic. East and West Egg live in a world of corruption due to the destruction money has on society’s morals. The critique given by Fitzgerald implies that we as humans need to be accepting of the lifestyles we live because the money and achieving the dream do not result in the happy life that is thought to be. The Valley of Ashes portrays the destruction of humanity’s unfair ideals of the American Dream and the harsh reality of it.

Society’s willing belief in the American dream is continuously criticised by F.Scott Fitzgerald through his use of the literary device setting. The setting of West Egg has a purpose of uncovering the idea that the dream is attainable thought honest, hard work. Fitzgerald puts the reality of corruption and crime on display through the big-livers of West Egg such as Gatsby and his not-so-innocent work of bootlegging. The point of this criticism shows us that we as a society need to stop expecting and comparing the lifestyles that others live. The East Egg setting is examined as the false hope the dream holds. Although the image of East Egg is portrayed as the peak of the dream, it is unfair and unjust to hold the people who live this ‘dream’ (Daisy and Tom Buchanan) accountable for the life they flaunt. They merely won the family lottery, however, this does not mean they are genuinely content with their life, even though they are supposedly living the dream. The Valley of Ashes holds the crowd of people that have lost their purpose.  Hard-work and the promise of a better life are dismissed by the reality of the dream, as the slaves of the valley will never truly make it out. The Great Gatsby, on the surface, is seen as a story of a small-town boy gone big and in his heart-aching quest for the love of Daisy. It is actually a brutally honest depiction of the American Dream and society’s role in it.